Music and Moods

What is it about music that has the ability to reach into our soul? To pull out emotions, be they good, bad, indifferent, or simply to help us withdraw from emotions completely? There are thousands upon thousands of different artists out there, each one defined by their own genre. I grew up listening to all different kinds of music with my old man. We had a totally awesome Yamaha stereo when I was growing up and my dad had a massive collection of albums ranging from Bachman Turner Overdrive to Beethoven. By darn! I played them all! I love music and music trivia. It drives my wife insane how I can usually spit out the mane of an artist and a song in a matter of seconds when she asks . ( and sometimes when she doesn’t ). I used to listen to music all the time and I miss it when I don’t. To be completely honest, I really don’t give a crap about TV, I could care less about it. Now, as I have already stated, I do like Person of Interest, I like the occasional football game, and I must admit that I LOVE cartoons! I’m still a big kid at heart. I truly miss my big stereo, it has been in the attic upstairs since my oldest daughter was born six years ago. Before I was married, I rarely turned the TV on, ( unless it was to watch Tom and Jerry). I would crank up my tunes, open up the window, and kick back in my hammock on the front porch.

When I can seek out the time, I pop my ear buds in and turn on something cool, calm and classic. The Eagles are always a good, mood changer for me, they aren’t loud or aggressive. The simple guitar rhythms and the harmony of those guys singing is just nothing short of awesome! My philosophy is…. It’s not always the word that get the job done as far as elevating your mood and freeing your mind. It’s the rhythm and back beat of the music. I also like John Mayer, his bluesy guitar and singing voice is soothing and can calm the average, savage beast. Jackson Browne is also a good one. Call me crazy, ( a lot of people do, so don’t feel bad ) I like soul music too, Al Green, Blaque, Tyrese, Janet, Avant, Kelly Rowland, ( these make good cruising music for a road trip )

Groups like Megadeth, Metallica, Urge Overkill, Skid Row, ( yeah I got all those too ) those are for releasing aggression, not to be listened to around the wife and kids. ( Insert laugh here ), or in traffic either, for that matter, as they CAN cause road rage. This day and age nobody needs that kinda stuff! Country…… Well, what can I say, country is country. It’s mostly about drinkin’, cheatin’, fightin’, leavin’, racin’, and so on and so forth. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do like some country music and I am not completely opposed to it, as I do have a fair amount of it in my music collection, ranging from George Jones to Rascall Flatts ( Kinda had to throw that one in there since Bless the Broken Road was my wedding song). Country, in and of itself, to me personally defeats the very purpose of me listening to music……

WHY! You ask…………? Because it is mostly composed of sheer depression in digital format!

Lastly, but certainly not least, and most likely my favorite. There’s 80’s music! Your, Michael Zembello’s, Def Leppard’s, Scritti Politti’s, Michael Jackson’s and there’s so many more, that in the interest of time I won’t name. These are known as feel good songs, or ( I hate to refer to it as this ) but, party music. There’s also classic rock, ( Led Zeppelin, Clapton, Foreigner, CCR, the Beatles and what not ) I could literally go on for hours! Classic rock, as it does take you down memory lane quite a ways, as far as I am concerned, falls into the feel good category. The point to this whole thing is this. Music makes us feel a certain way. The way we listen to it and what we listen to ( and its different for everybody ) determines what we get out of it. It can put you in a good mood, a bad mood ( don’t know why in the world you’d actually want that! ) or no mood at all for that matter. Music is the soundtrack to our life. So next time you have a minute or two to kill ( I know it’s difficult for some of us ) drag out the old CD collection, the vinyl, the cassettes, eight tracks or whatever you got and see where it takes you! No drugs or alcohol required let the music put you where you need to be!

SpaceMax 806

Signing Off

Ramblings from the far side ( Person of Interest) and such.

So let me just say, I am watching my favorite show. I love Person of Interest. Personally, I think John Reese is a cool, calm and collected BADASS! However, I do realize that it is a little farfetched. That doesn’t really matter to me that much, I simply like the show, for the technology, the fight scenes and the dry sense of comradery between Reese and Finch. It’s about the only show on TV that holds my interest, first of all and second of all despite some blood and what not in the fight scenes, seems to be a, shall we say decent show. I used to love Two and Half Men and How I Met Your Mother. Two and a Half Men, however has just gotten too ( I hate to use the word raunchy ) but alas, I will.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a funny show, but I can only take so many references to smoking weed booze and sex. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not holier than thou, but I’ve made my mistakes and I still do, everyday, several times a day. How I Met Your Mother, I still like this show and I do watch it on occasion, but it has simply gotten too predictable to bear watching anymore.

Well, that’s enough about TV. Time to vent about other stuff…… So the other night my wife and my older daughter show up with, not 1 but 2 friggin’ rabbits. Let me just say, I am not opposed to animals completely, I’m just NOT the animal person that my wife is. Speaking of which, as of right now they are living in the house with the rest of us ( as it is actually cold here in South Carolina at the moment). They have been staying in my bathroom, they appear to be SOMEWHAT litter box trained. I still have to sweep up the pellets every morning whilst I am getting ready for work. What a way to start the day! Huh? This being said, apparently I forgot and left the bathroom door open earlier because I was just accosted by a cold bunny nose on my arm. I have to admit, the darn things are cute, but they are a pain in my “ bunky”. That’s the word we affectionately use for “butt” around here. I never envisioned when we bought a house in a sub division eight years ago, that we’d have two rabbits, four cats, and two dogs. The two dogs live outside in the back yard, Thank God. One cat lives in the house, the other three in the garage. We used to have five chickens in the back yard, here’s the breakdown of their disappearance. One flew away, and one the dog killed, the other three fell victim to a nasty letter from our home owners association. Just for the record, I saw that one coming, I’m just surprised that they lasted as long as they did. Didn’t bother me at all, as I hated the stupid things anyway…..

I am actually shocked that I have been able to write as much as I have this morning without any interruption from the kids or the wife. As I have said before, my attention span sucks, but I really enjoy the writing of my blog. It kind of an escape from reality for me. I hardly ever have time to do it though. If everybody in the house is awake, I’m always busy taking care of them, if I wait until everyone else goes to sleep I can’t accomplish much for falling asleep at the keyboard from sheer exhaustion from my day. Well, as usual as everyone in the house is starting to come to life, now MY time comes to an end and I play “BUTLER” to everyone and everything else. ( since the frustration there? ) I bid my blog a fond farewell until next time.

Space Max, signing off……

Fun With a Cervical Cap

Reblogged from This is the Corner We Pee In:

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Can anyone please tell me why someone thought that playground equipment designed like a cervical cap was a good idea?

And even more pressing, why is this the thing to which Sidney returns time and again?

Is she trying to tell me something?

Random thoughts for today!

Why is it that I can go sit in Sunday school for an hour and feel so relaxed, and be able to think and listen to what’s being said. But, the second that I leave the church into the real world, things go awry and it all goes away? I love my children with all that’s in me and I enjoy watching them grow and play. But when they start whining and especially the fighting ( oh the jealousy ) it just pushes me to the brink of ( insert your favorite adjectives here).
Don’t get me wrong…. I fully realize, after being a dad for 6 and 1/2 years now, that kids will be kids no matter what! They’ll:
Make messes, fight, cry, scream, whine, beg, jump on and off of things ( especially my nerves! ), play with the remote, break things, want to help you ( when you don’t always need it ) , change channels and/or DVDs constantly, change their minds constantly, eat too much junk food ( not eat at all when you refuse to give it to them) I mean I could go on for 10 more minutes about their shortcomings. But, why do that! The fact of the matter is…. They’re tiny humans, with minds of their own whose only care in the world, is and should be …. a misplaced toy or not wanting to get up and go to school.
All this being said, for the gobs of stress that ( shall we say) having kids causes. They do some things very well that takes it all away and makes the rest irrelevant. They love! They care! They’re kids! They have that innocence and zeal for life that is unmistakeable. The same zeal, that some of us as adults lose somewhere in our early teens. The same zeal that we spend the rest of our adult lives trying to find, for some of us ( despite our efforts ) it never returns. I refuse to be that man!
There is more to life than worrying about EVERYTHING and more to life than getting by. I realized this morning sitting in Sunday school, that no matter what my problems are or the way I conceive or react to them. Guess what? Everyone else has problems too! We don’t know what they are necessarily or how they react to them, but rest assured, they have them. Now, how do I handle MY worries and cares?
But, more on that later. 4am comes waaaaay to early!
Goodnight all! From
SpaceMax

Motivation

So, do you ever just have those days, weeks, months even? When the motivation to get more out of life than just muddle through, just ISN’T there?

Not only that… You just don’t seem to see it on the horizon either? Well, for whatever reason, that seems to be where I am hovering at the moment. I try, in vain, to convince myself that the things that I worry about just aren’t THAT damned important! I

I mean, I always seem to be broke, I’m always tired, my house is always a mess ( the last two are related to children, I’m pretty sure ) and I worry myself sick sometimes about stupid shit….. It’s this in particular that makes me wonder what goes on inside the human mind to make us feel the way that we do. I certainly don’t recall being neurotic as a kid. I realize that responsibility tends to take its toll on us as we age. The stresses of work, and kids, bills and marriage ( no particular reason for the grouping mind you , that’s just the way it came out ) piles up on us, and we just don’t seem to be that happy little two year old that jumped out of bed every morning just to watch Looney Tunes, eat our Capn’ Crunch then spend the morning planning out our mischief for the remainder of the day. Dear God! I miss those days!!!

I see it in the mornings on Saturdays, when my two year old gets that gleam in her eye, and giggles her fiendish little giggle as she plans her next effort to have a little fun and fry my nerves at the same time. I don’t get to see it during the week really, because I leave for work three or four hours before she gets up. Motivation?? Maybe that’s it. Not necessarily to plan mischief per se’ but instead to strive to find our inner two year old, to do the things we as adults do every day, IE: work, eat, sleep and poop ( not necessarily in that order) but, to reconnect with our inner child in the process. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when life needs to be taken seriously, but let’s not get carried away, Huh?

I suppose my point to this big long set of run-on sentences is this….. Dig deep, pray, read, blog, journal, sing, any or all of the above will do. Let go a little, find the inner two year old and let it shine! Life is too short not to. God put us all here for a purpose, that is to spread his words of hope. How can we do that if we are always mad at the world about dumb stuff? He always provides for those who believe in him and tries feverishly through us to reach the ones that don’t. My goal for tomorrow is to go out and take on the world with a different outlook than normal, get motivated from the inside out, and enjoy life a heck of lot more in the process…. I guess we’ll see how I do!

Goodnight all!

SpaceMax806

Walmart etiquette

Reblogged from My Special Kind of Hell:

Tonight's trip to Walmart was one of those times where you leave feeling like maybe you really do have your life together. I'm not sure why people feel compelled to do the things that they do in Walmart--or even in public, for that matter--but I am sure that it needs to stop. Actually, I'm absolutely positive, never been more sure, please never do it again, ever sure that it needs to stop.

Read more… 665 more words

Right On!!

Bedtime for Bonzo! A prelude to sleep, or lack thereof:)

You know, I would assume that most parents have the same struggle that I do when it comes to bed-time. In my personal opinion, children should be on there way in the bed by 9 pm and attempting to go to sleep. Am I unrealistic ? My philosophy is this…. If they’re asleep by 9 or 930 it gives parents a chance to unwind and regroup before going to bed. Of course, no matter what’s on my mind, I’m usually so tired that I just pass out in the chair while the girls are watching tv.
I get up around 445 every morning, so by the time 930 or 10 rolls around I’m pretty darn sleepy. My girls however, are like me and if something catches their interest on tv it’s like flying to the moon on a hang glider to get them In the bed. ( impossible at best) !
Also, the later it gets, the more tired I get and it, shall we say…. Shortens my fuse quite a bit and I tend to lose my patience much more quickly. My wife and I both have started to learn from our mistakes raising the 6 year old and apply what we’ve learned to the 2 year old.
Big surprise though , somedays this works better than others:)
My wife and I were discussing the fact earlier, that she and I were raised in totally different fashions. I had a structured bed time for the most part, where-as she didn’t. I guess my whole point is…… Raising kids is a challenge to say the least and I am certainly not perfect as a parent, but it is all a process and that in the end, I must learn to fight the battles that I can win and the other ones let the good Lord handle it.